James: DBI in Action
My journey with Penumbra began some seven years ago, in 2018, as a Mental Health and Wellbeing Worker within one of Aberdeen’s Supported Accommodation Services, moving into a role as a Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner within Supported Living, before making the transition into DBI’s National Team in 2024.
Penumbra’s approach to empowering individuals to be the expert of their own experience and recovery remains integral to its ability to deliver outcomes for supported people.
DBI’s remit and support delivery methods were something I was unfamiliar with, having come from a support background that was very practically based and heavily focused on moderate-to-severe mental health challenges.
For me, experiencing a level of autonomy within my role – which reduced the ‘active’ role I previously facilitated for supported people to a more ‘passive’ one of listening and ‘coaching’ – has been transformative.
DBI utilises a collaborative approach in its efforts to support people who are in heightened distress, without the need for further immediate clinical intervention.
This time-limited intervention provides me with a unique opportunity to use my skills in active listening, reflection, and interpretation in a cadenced manner. This seeks to facilitate a safe space for the supported person to reflect, take stock, and discover aspects of their distress – and what perhaps causes it – which they may not have felt ready or able to explore in a more ‘medicalised’ setting.
Time and time again, these appointments demonstrate the ‘ask once, get help fast’ approach that DBI embeds in its service delivery. This is evident in the desire people have to engage.
You never know what one ‘hello’ may do for someone. It may change their life; it may even save their life.
DBI’s structure gave me an entirely new lease of life, empowering and supporting me to assist people – even just by having those initial conversations – which can lead them on a path to changing their lives.
‘Space, time and compassion’ remain a central aspect of Penumbra’s work within suicide prevention. Within DBI, this is very much a shared experience between the supported person and the Practitioner. It fosters partnership and demonstrates ‘The Power of Peer’ through organic conversations focused on individual needs, with the supported person always being in control of their experience.
Supported people access DBI National’s pathway via NHS 24, the Scottish Ambulance Service, or additional emergency/primary care services such as Police Scotland and their GP. This automatically enhances the level of ‘buy-in’, ultimately leading to improved outcomes and experiences for those ready to receive support.
This has given me an opportunity to grow as a person, by embracing methods of working that are less ‘prescriptive’ in nature, allowing me to experiment and adopt new ways of communicating in an environment that offers the chance to listen, pause, reflect, and validate.
There is something to be said for how someone chooses to put food on their table, and the way in which they are afforded the ability to do so.
You never know what one ‘hello’ – and the way in which that hello is both delivered and received – may do for someone. It may change their life; it may even save their life.
When it’s all said and done, isn’t that something worth hanging your hat on?
An enormous thanks to James for sharing his experience empowering and supporting people within our DBI National Pathway Service.
Inspired? Visit Penumbra’s Career page and find your next life-changing opportunity: penumbra.org.uk/careers
